Page 63 of Girl in the Water

Carmen

Seventeen hundred miles to the north, Carmen Heyerdahl sobbed in Phil’s arms, her heart breaking. “We should never have brought Lila here.”

The night bugs bounced off the window screen. They had the light off, but the bugs knew where they were anyway and seemed determined to breach the barricade.Ping, ping, ping.

The room had been a little too small for the three of them, but now without the baby, it seemed oddly smaller yet, suffocating, like being trapped in a coffin.

Phil wrapped both arms tightly around her, as if afraid that if he let her go she too might disappear. He kissed the top of her head. “It’s not your fault. See-Love-Aid was supposed to be safe. Nothing like this has ever happened here.”

“I’m not going to give up until I find her.”

“I know.” He kissed her again. “You’ve never given up on anyone in your life. I know you’re not going to give up on Lila. Neither will I. We’ll find her. The police are looking.”

“And we’re getting help from the US.” She glanced up at Phil in the dim moonlight. He looked black and white, a shadow image of himself.

“That will make a difference,” shadow Phil said. “And we’ll keep searching on our own.”

She laid her head back down on his chest as she nodded. His chest was reassuringly real. He wasn’t really fading.

They’d been out every day, walking the city, walking the various harbors, the markets, looking at every child, hoping to see that sweet familiar face. They showed Lila’s picture around tirelessly, put out printed posters, offered a reward.

Any day now, something would bear fruit. Any day now, they would have Lila back.

* * *

Daniela

Since Ian was sitting by the desk with the laptop when Daniela came out of the bathroom, she went straight to the makeshift bed on the floor by the window and lay down.

“You can take the bed,” he said without looking away from the screen.

“I don’t want to. It wouldn’t be fair. We are on business here, and we are partners in the investigation.”Equals.

A stifled groan escaped him.

“The bed is big enough to share,” she pointed out. “But if you don’t want to, then I’m fine here.”

He said nothing, so she closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.

He stayed up another hour before he went to lie down on the top of the covers, fully dressed.

She turned away from the air conditioner. The frigid blast of air was about to blow her eyebrows off. She pulled her blanket to her chin. She wasn’t a big fan of air-conditioning. She didn’t mind heat.

“All right. Fine,” Ian said. “Get up here.”

She didn’t make him ask twice. Her skin tingling—maybe from the AC, maybe from his sudden change of mind—she eased into bed. She kept at least two feet of empty space between them. If she moved closer, he might go and sleep on the floor again.

She was in the same bed with Ian, a start. No sense messing it up right off the bat.

He was the one who’d taught her, back when he’d been tutoring her for her GED, how to set goals, then how to break down big goals into manageable steps. Didn’t he realize that she never forgot a single word he said?

She stretched and luxuriated in the idea of having gotten this far. She briefly considered “accidentally” rolling against him in the middle of the night so she could wake up in his arms, but she cast the thought aside. She didn’t want to push him over the edge.

“Go to sleep,” he ordered. “We have to get up at six to check out and catch the flight at eight.”

She tucked herself in and lay looking at the dark ceiling, listening to him breathe right next to her.

“Are you scared?” she asked.